Power is gradually being restored throughout the North Island after widespread outages this afternoon.
Vector says Transpower lost power to the Huntly station and had to dump some of Vector’s lines to deal with the problem.
Officials are working to restore power across the North Island, but an anticipated restoration time is not yet known. Vector has directed concerned residents to its website for ongoing updates.
Transpower are still attempting to locate the fault, and have not managed to restore power to the Huntly station. They are not anticipating major problems as a result of the outage.
3 News received reports of power outages in the Bay of Plenty, the North Shore, and as far south as Wellington.
A number of Hutt Valley residents also contacted 3 News to tell us they were without power, as well as people in the Wellington suburb of Island Bay.
Rata Street School Principal Dave Appleyard, in Lower Hutt, said the school had lost power but classes would continue as normal.
Some parts of Rotorua also reported loss of power, but the CBD remained connected.
A New Plymouth resident told 3 News the hospital is working off the emergency supply and all traffic lights are out in the town centre.
He says "police are working like mad" to keep the roads safe.
George Apostolakis, owner of Italian Cuba cafe on Wellington's Cuba St, says the power cut couldn't have come at a worse time - he was unable to heat food for his customers and the EFTPOS system was down, meaning no-one could pay.
“We lost power [and] we've got no time for trading through
lunchtime, busiest period of the day basically and the evening as well,” he
says.
“We can't trade or do anything.”
Were you affected by the power outage? Email us noles@tv3.co.nz
3 News